Title: Energy-based determination of velocity change in traffic accidents

Authors: A. Nilsson-Ehle

Addresses: Automotive Safety Centre, Volvo Car Corporation, Goteborg, Sweden

Abstract: To improve the crashworthiness of cars it is necessary to have accurate information concerning the severity of mad accidents, and the deceleration forces experienced by vehicles and their occupants. The Collision Deformation Classification (CDC) system can only be used to compare the damage suffered by cars of the same model involved in the same type of accident. Velocity change (AV) has been widely adopted as a preferred form of severity indication parameter in recent years, and this paper outlines a variation of the Campbell method of calculating AV for frontal collisions that is used by Volvo in their accident analysis. There is a need for greater standardization in the calculation of AV and far more vehicle data to be exchanged between car manufacturers.

Keywords: accident analysis; vehicle safety; crashworthiness; velocity change calculation; deformation characteristics; impact tests; Volvo.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVD.1983.061076

International Journal of Vehicle Design, 1983 Vol.4 No.2, pp.126 - 135

Published online: 25 May 2014 *

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